State police rule Peterborough officer-involved crash accidental

PETERBOROUGH — George Xenakis, a Peterborough police officer injured in a three-vehicle traffic accident on Route 101 on July 14, has returned to full-time duty, as N.H. State Police wind down their investigation into the crash.

“My actual investigation has been submitted and the preliminary finding is that there are no criminal charges pending. It was an accident,” said N.H. State Trooper Kelly Healey on Friday.

Xenakis, 24, and three other people were hospitalized after the accident, which took place shortly after 4 p.m. on Route 101 near Union Street. A Dodge 2500 pickup truck driven by Xenakis, who was off-duty at the time, ran into the back of another pickup, which then hit a motorcycle driven by a Reading, Mass., man.

Xenakis and two people in the other truck were treated and released at Monadnock Community Hospital after the accident. The driver of the motorcycle was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, where he was treated and later released.

Healey said a state police Technical Accident Reconstruction team is still reviewing the case.

In an email to the Ledger-Transcript, Trooper Michael Pelletier, a crash reconstruction specialist, said it was unclear when the investigation will be complete, due to the heavy case load of the crash reconstruction team.

Healey told the Ledger-Transcript in early August that alcohol had been ruled out as a factor in the accident. At that time, Xenakis had not returned to duty with the Peterborough police and was out on earned paid sick leave. On Thursday, Peterborough Police Chief Scott Guinard said Xenakis has been back on full-time duty for some time.

Dave Anderson can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 233, or danderson@ledgertranscript.com. He’s on Twitter at @DaveAndersonMLT.